E. L. Godkin and His (Special and Influential) View of 19th Century Journalism

Abstract

E. L. Godkin was the influential editor of both the Nation (1865–1899) and the New York Evening Post (1881–1899). This study concentrates on Godkin's attitude toward journalism, which was multi-dimensional; he saw journalism as having power to change for good but he also saw much pandering to popular audiences in the era of Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. Godkin himself wanted to make money and to change society, and he was successful in both ways. But he assailed editors and reporters for grubbing after facts and sensationalizing them. Godkin, like some others in this period between centuries, had mixed feelings about journalism, but he defended freedom of expression and the role of the press in democracy.